New Staff

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I once again pray that you are blessed. We have all been blessed this last week with some beautiful weather. I took some time off Monday and went to Holland to see the tulips. It was a bit, scratch that, it was a LOT windy, especially for photographing flowers, but it was still an enjoyable day appreciating God’s magnificent Creation.

I want to share some other good news with you. We have hired two new staff members, Catherine and Donica. (Unlike last week, that is not a typo.) It turns out that they are both relatively new parishioners. One aspect that they both liked about the job was as a way to get to know more about our parish and to meet more parishioners. I will ask each of them to write a short little bio for the bulletin, sharing a little bit about themselves. They will be in training for the next couple of weeks, but after that, I invite you to stop by and introduce yourself and welcome them to our staff.

They will both work part time and will divide the responsibilities of the receptionist position. You are all aware that we have struggled to maintain a person in that position, and so, we decided to take a good look at it and use this as an opportunity to restructure. One of the struggles shared by our former employees is the struggle to concentrate on certain tasks, like publishing the bulletin, while also answering the phone and door. There is also a lot more to the position than one would first assume.

One of the other things we have done is move offices. I moved my office back to the rectory to Bernie’s old office. Sandy has taken my former office, and her former office will be used by the receptionist when she is working on something that needs concentration, like the bulletin. We are still not sure exactly what will happen when that person is working in that other office. We may decide to close the office and put the phone on auto. We may try to overlap both part-time employees and have one in front and one in the rear office. Or we may try having volunteers answer the phone and door, while the employee focuses on a project like the bulletin.

I share this with you so you will be prepared for some possible changes. None of this is set in stone yet, but I am aware that while having a person answer the phone and door 40 hours a week is very convenient, most parishes in the country simply can’t afford to do it, or realize it is no longer necessary. We are trying to determine what is cost effective and helps lower the stress level on our staff, while still being pastoral to you and meeting your needs as best we can. So, I ask you to be patient, and if you have opinions one way or another please let us know.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick